This book presents research on pathways into creative work. The promise of doing what you love continues to attract new entrants to the cultural and creative industries. Is that promise betrayed by the realities of pathways into creative work, or does a creative identification offer new personal and professional possibilities in the precarious contexts of contemporary work and employment? Two decades into the 21st century, aspiring creative workers undertake training and higher education courses in increasing numbers. Some attempt to convert personal enthusiasms and amateur activities into income-earning careers. To manage the uncertainties of self-employment, workers may utilise skills developed in other occupations, even developing timely new forms of collective organisation. The collection explores the experience of creative career entrants in numerous national contexts, including Australia, Belgium, China, Ireland, Italy, Finland, the Netherlands, Russia, the US andthe UK. Chapters investigate the transitions of new workers and the obstacles they encounter on creative pathways.

Chapters 1, 12 and 15 are available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.

Stephanie Taylor is Professor of Social Psychology at The Open University, UK. She is co-author ofContemporary Identities of Creativity and Creative Work(2012) and co-editor ofThe New Normal of Working Lives(2018).

Susan Luckman is Professor of Cultural and Creative Industries at the University of South Australia. She is author ofCraft and the Creative Economy (2015) and co-editor ofThe New Normal of Working Lives (2018).

1. Creative aspiration and the betrayal of promise? The experience of new creative workers.- 2. Unexpected enterprises: Remixing creative entrepreneurship.- 3. New entrants' narrations of their aspirations and experiences of media production work.- 4. Creative graduates pathways in the hybrid cultural economy of contemporary Russia.- 5. Young womens aspirations and transitions into, through and away from contemporary creative work.- 6. Working the field: career pathways amongst artists and writers in Shanghai.- 7. In the orbit of the art biennial: reflecting on the networks of donors, mediators, artists and curators.- 8. Meaning and soul: co-working, creative career and independent co-work spaces.- 9. Expat agencies: Expatriation and exploitation in the creative industries in the UK and the Netherlands.- 10. Diversity initiatives and addressing inequalities in craft.- 11. Becoming and Being a Creative and Entrepreneurial Mom inFinland.- 12. It started with the arts and now it concerns all sectors: The case of Smart, a cooperative of salaried autonomous workers.- 13. Reputation and Personal Branding in the Platform Economy.- 14. Cities hope labour in insecure times:  On aspiring creative industries, travelling expectations and aesthetic pedagogies.- 15. New pathways into creative work?.